With 5,194 confirmed COVID 19 cases in India, the country has entered the third week of the 21-day nationwide lockdown. A total of 148 deaths have been reported so far and Maharashtra became the first state to have more than 1,000 cases. Amid the coronavirus, here’s a list of some other important stories from India. 

• Chhattisgarh cops donned virus-themed outfits to warn lockdown violators.The trend was started by the Hyderabad police who wore coronavirus-themed headgear to create awareness among people, Chhattisgarh police went a step further by donning red virus-themed outfits and called themselves the ‘corona demon’.
• In a Muslim community in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, members came together to help perform the last rites of their Hindu neighbour as relatives of the deceased could not reach the place due to the nationwide lockdown. They helped in making arrangements for the deceased’s last rites as they carried the body on their shoulders to the cremation ground located about 2.5 km. They wore masks as a precaution.
• A Kolkata lawyer cursed a Calcutta High Court judge, swearing he be infected with coronavirus, provoking the judge to recommend contempt action against him. The advocate, Bijoy Adhikary appeared before the court to seek a stay on the auction of a bus of his client by a nationalised bank for default in loan repayment. The court, however, refused to grant an urgent hearing, noting the bus had been seized by the bank on January 15. The furious lawyer threw tantrums and thumped the table and banged the microphone on it.
• A couple in Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district named their newborn son ‘Lockdown’ to hail fight against cornavirus and remind them of the unprecedented period. The boy was born on April 6 to Raghunath Mali and his 24-year-old wife Manju, both residents of Bachheri village in Sheopur district at a private hospital.
• Musician Baba Sehgal relased a new virus-themed music video on fighting coronavirus. Titled ‘Rab Rakha‘, it promotes “self-isolation” and “vegetarian food”. In the song, he also urges people to stay home and not break the chain. 
• A railway cop in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur sang Bhojpuri song to spread awareness on COVID 19 in Gorakhpur. The song penned by post incharge Akshay Kumar Mishra says “Jan Jan curfew lagai ho, corona toh ke jai ke padi” (curfew is followed by everyone and corona you will have to retreat).
• A Jammu and Kashmir administration employee was sent to a quarantine centre for blowing his nose and spitting on the road. The accountant who works in the civil secretariat in the Valley had gone to meet a relative in Paloura on the outskirts of the city when he was nabbed, officials said. Seeing him blow his nose, neighbours panicked and immediately called the police, which rushed to the spot with a medical team and a magistrate. He was immediately taken to a quarantine facility set up at the IIT hostel in the Janipur area and his samples taken for a coronavirus test. The employee told police officials he had an itch in his nose and nothing more.

Source: The Indian Express